


Their Story (Side B)

by GrumpyJenn



Category: Final Fantasy X
Genre: Canon Friends to Lovers, Canonical Character Death, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-08-04 02:41:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 3,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16338269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrumpyJenn/pseuds/GrumpyJenn
Summary: It was Tidus' story. And Yuna's story. But it was also our story. Mine and my best friend's. The story of how we found each other.





	1. Chapter 1

When did it start to change?

When did I start to see you?

Not just the brother of my deceased lover,

When did I really see _you_?

 

When did it start to change?

When did I start to see you?

Not just the lover of my little brother,

When did I really see _you_?

 

\--------------------------------------------------

 

 _Luca_ , Lulu thought. _It must have started at Luca_. He had tried so hard, given it everything he had. He had said she wasn't supposed to see him floating in the sphere. At first, she had thought he had been embarrassed for her to see him looking weak. But then he had fallen into her arms, and that was when she'd realized.

He wasn't ashamed of looking weak. He was worried that she might have thought he was dead, like Chappu, and he wanted to spare her that pain.

And that was when exasperated sisterly affection had begun to change into something else, something more.

Oh, it wasn't a complete about-face; Lulu knew _that_. Much as she loved him, she also _knew_ him, and he was a stubborn, provincial, somewhat bigoted ass much of the time. But he was also a good man, a decent person with a number of utterly stupid blind spots. One of those blind spots was the boy who looked so much like Chappu, and _that_ pain, Wakka could not spare her.

Lulu sighed and tucked her doll into her sleeve, and then she went to face Wakka on the top deck of the ship.


	2. Chapter 2

_It's just too much, too fast,_ Wakka thought.

Tidus, Rikku, Seymour... none of them were what they appeared to be, and it was all just wrong! Maesters should not be the bad guys, even if they were arrogant and unlikeable. Al Bhed should not be the good guys, even when they were brave little girls. Everything was upside down and Wakka hated it. He just couldn't adjust that quickly.

Wakka was fully aware that he wasn't the fastest thinker he knew. Oh, he was quick enough in a Blitzball Sphere or in a fight. But changes in the world around him? He needed _time_ for that, and he wasn't getting it. And there was Lulu, taking the kid under her wing even after warning Wakka not to see him as too much like Chappu.

He hoped Lulu wasn't warning the kid off; Wakka wasn't _that_ slow. He could keep the two young men separate in his mind, and Lu didn't have to keep _on_ about the subject.

Sighing without opening his eyes, and turning over in his spot near the Save Sphere here in this forsaken desert of the Al Bhed, Wakka mentally smacked himself. Of _course_  Lu wouldn't turn the kid against him; she was too decent a person for that. Always had been. She came across as cold to people who didn't know her well, but under that reserved exterior was the most intelligent person Wakka knew, as well as one of the kindest.

And if she trusted Rikku, he almost certainly could too.

Wakka opened his eyes, only to find the subject of his thoughts watching him intently from her place on the other side of the Save Sphere. She smiled at him, the corners of the red-brown eyes crinkling, and mouthed the words _can't sleep_? Shaking his head, he levered himself into a sitting position and reached around the Sphere to help her up. Not that she needed the help; she was also one of the most graceful people he knew. But she allowed it and kept his hand in hers to guide him around their sleeping companions. Nodding at Sir Auron, who was on watch, they picked their way out of the camp, where they could talk without waking the others.

Lulu was still clutching her Moogle doll in the hand not holding his, and Wakka smiled. Other people might take their weapons out of camp for physical protection, but he knew Lu would rely on him for that. For Lu, the doll was for comfort, but she'd never admit it, not even to him. 

Maybe not even to herself.

But he wouldn't call her on it. She was far, far stronger than she looked, and she prided herself on it, and Wakka would not take that away from her.

And suddenly, Wakka realized that he cared deeply for her - this strong, beautiful, complex woman. She'd been there all along, but he hadn't really _seen_ her, not as more than just the lover of his dead little brother.

He'd been too slow to change. 

But now? 

Now he was starting to.


	3. Chapter 3

The knowledge of Yuna's parentage, of Yevon's corruption... they had shaken Wakka to his core, Lulu could see that. And he took it out on Rikku, though even with that Lulu could see him softening toward the Al Bhed girl. Maybe it was that she was Yuna's cousin, maybe that he had come to know her as a person rather than a faceless one of "them."

Maybe, after the destruction of Home and the Hymn of the Fayth sung by Rikku's people, Wakka realized that there was no "them," or if there was, it wasn't the Al Bhed who comprised it. Lulu didn't know, and she doubted that Wakka himself did, not to put into words anyway.

But it was to Wakka that Rikku turned for comfort when the armies of Yevon began to bomb the Al Bhed Home, so _she_ must see past the frustrated religious crisis to the decent man underneath. And he, in turn, did comfort the younger girl, stupid chatter about fireworks or not.

If Rikku didn't blame him, how could Lulu, who knew him, knew how hard this all was for him?

Lulu herself was a good daughter of Yevon, but her faith had never been as, well, uncomplicatedly  _faithful_ as Wakka's. She was more of a cynic, saw more clearly perhaps, and although she had sometimes envied him his simple certainty on the topic, she didn't now. She could stay a step removed from the horrors of discovering the duplicity and outright evil of many of the Maesters. Wakka couldn't, and it hurt Lulu's heart to see it.

When she tried to talk with him about it, he wouldn't respond, just avoided her gaze and said it would all work out in the end. Ya?

So she decided to let it go until he was ready to talk about it.

Then Father Zuke found them in the Calm Lands.

FFXFFXFFXFFXFFX

It hadn't really hit Lu what the Calm Lands meant until Father Zuke found them, Wakka could see that. She went all quiet - more so than her usual, even - and Wakka knew she was thinking about Lady Ginnem more than she was Father Zuke. Zuke had quit the pilgrimage of his own accord, and that was partly Wakka's fault for not being a better Guardian, but even back then Lulu had... retreated into herself, Wakka supposed... when they had reached the Calm Lands. Her relief when Zuke had quit was almost visible it was so strong, even if no-one but Wakka could see it.

And now she'd have to go through that again.

Late that night, the first they spent in the Calm Lands, Wakka woke, sensing something wrong. Everyone else was asleep; the hosts in the little shop kept their own watch, but... but where was Lulu?

Wakka listened, straining his ears.

Off toward the cliffs at the edge of the Calm Lands, just at the edge of the light from their camp in the shop area, Lulu stood staring out into the darkness of the endless plains. He grabbed a Ball and crept toward her, just wanting to protect her against the Fiends that might lurk past the circle of light.

As he approached, she spoke. "What do you want, Wakka?" It was her hard, long-suffering, impatient voice, but there was a little catch in it at the end. Wakka edged closer.

"I just want to help."

She didn't turn to look at him, but said in that same weary tone, "I don't need your help. I can stand on my own."

Wakka almost walked away, but that tiny break in her voice stopped him, She might not think she needed help, but she could sure use it. He reached her, stood beside her, and said, "I know you can stand on your own. But, Lu, you don't have to."

"I..." she began, and fell silent. He turned to her, reached out and tipped her chin up so he could look her in the eyes.

"You held me up at Luca," Wakka said simply. "You hold me up almost every day. Let me return the favor, ya?"

He watched as the familiar reddish eyes filled with tears, and gathered her to him, to hold her up until she could stand on her own again.

 


	4. Chapter 4

"That way leads down into the valley..."

She said it calmly, but Wakka knew her too well. Lulu was upset.

After their moment at the edge of the camp last night, Lu had put that - that cool, calm mask - back on. Keeping a good face on things, Wakka thought, and she can only show her feelings a little bit, when we're alone. Keeping strong for Yuna and Tidus and Rikku. Keeping stoic for Sir Auron and Kimahri. Only Wakka, her oldest friend, got to see the sadness inside... and he only very seldom.

So when he finally understood that this cave - the Cavern of Stolen Fayth - was where she had lost Lady Ginnem, Wakka felt terrible. He had known it was somewhere after the Calm Lands, but he hadn't realized last night that it was so close. If he had known, he'd have held her longer, tried to lend her extra strength.

If she would have let him.

Probably not.

But he held her gaze after the rest of them went in. She was hurting, sad, and she let him see it, just a little. Once the others were safely away.

Once they fought the Lady and Yuna Sent her, Lulu just... stood there. She had faced her guilt and her fear and fought bravely. But afterward, she just stood there. No tears, not that Wakka could see. "Strange," Lulu said, looking devastated in her understated way, "I thought it would be sadder, somehow. Maybe I've gotten... used to farewells."

And suddenly Wakka knew what to say, the right thing to say. The thing that would help Lulu while also saving her face in front of the others. "You're stronger now."

"Wakka... I hope you're right."

He was right. He knew he was. Lulu was one of the strongest people he knew.

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

"Sin is eternal. Every Aeon that defeats it becomes Sin in its place."

The statement, said with such calm certainty, rocked Lulu to her core. She barely heard Wakka's response, too caught up in her own whirling thoughts to register it. 

"The teachings state," Lulu began, hearing her own voice high and distressed, "That we can exorcize Sin with complete atonement!" _Because_ , she thought, despairingly, _if we have no hope, then all those people - Summoners, Guardians, Aeons... Lady Ginnem - they have all died for nothing. Nothing!_

There was some more talk and the past vision of Sir Auron, and... and then there was a fight. A long, nasty fight against a legend of old, a fight where even _Wakka_ seemed to be handling the truth about Yevon and the teachings better than she did. At least he said his piece and got down to work; Lulu couldn't seem to make her mind stop circling more than it took to cast spells over and over again.

And finally, it was over.

They had killed a God. _More or less, anyway_ , thought Lulu, despairingly, as they made a camp in the ruins of Zanarkand yet again. She went through the motions, starting a fire with a spell, helping to cook. She couldn't eat, didn't note the long look between Tidus and Yuna, Rikku's unusual silence, or the curt nod Sir Auron gave Wakka. She just sat on a bit of crumbled masonry, numbly trying to process all that had happened. And eventually, one by one, they all wandered off in ones or twos to sleep.

Except Wakka, who just sat, uncharacteristically still, watching her soberly from across the fire.

Lulu shut her eyes. She'd been so smug, considered herself superior because she saw more clearly. She had thought so, anyway.

And she had been wrong. She didn't hear him move, was just steeling herself to get up and talk to him. She didn't know whether it was to apologize, or to pick a fight, or what, really. But she knew she'd have to have it out with him, in whatever fashion, before she could stop these damned circular thoughts and get back to normal. If such a thing was possible, ever again.

But he beat her to it. Lulu started as Wakka sat down on the broken stump of a pillar, put a warm, hard-muscled arm around her, and drew her head down to rest it on his shoulder.

He began to sing the Hymn of the Fayth quietly, his voice rumbling deep in his chest.

And - comforted by the murmured song and the steady beat of his heart against her ear - Lulu slept.


	6. Chapter 6

"Will they be all right, Yunie?"

Wakka woke with a start and got his bearings. Sitting on a broken pillar, leaning against another, Lulu beside him, snuggled up against his chest.

He liked it, even if one of her hair sticks was stabbing him in the throat. But he listened to Yuna's answer.

"Wakka is fine. Lulu..." She trailed off, and Wakka spoke, softly so as not to wake Lu.

"Lu will be fine. She just... it hit her all at once, ya?"

"What do you mean?" Yuna sounded curious, maybe even surprised.

"Well... you still got faith, ya? In the Fayth if not in the actual Temples." She nodded. "And you, Rikku, you and the rest of the Al Bhed, you knew the corruption was happenin' already." Rikku nodded, looking thoughtful. "I dunno about Kimahri, but the kid and Sir Auron, they never had the same kinda belief, or Auron did an' lost it the first time he met Lady Yunalesca. Lu... meeting Yunalesca, it hit her all at once, ya know? And bein' who she is, she feels like if she had known, if she'd thought of it, well..."

Yuna nodded again, looking sad. "She would feel like she could have saved Lady Ginnem. Maybe even Chappu." Then she smiled at him. "And when did you get so wise, Wakka?"

He felt himself blush. "It's not wisdom, I..." Taking a deep breath, he looked Rikku right in the swirls of her eyes. "I been thinkin' a lot on it since, well... since the Al Bhed Home, an' I..." He looked away as the green filled with tears, spoke the last few words into Lulu's hair. "I'm sorry, ya? I didn't mean..."

"She knows that," Lulu said sleepily, and sat up, taking his face between her soft white hands. "She forgave you for being an ass, long before I would have in the same circumstances."

"Lu..." She was right. But it didn't feel right to say so.

"You are wiser than you know, Wakka," Yuna said quietly, and Rikku nodded.

But Wakka hardly noticed as he looked into Lulu's face.


	7. Chapter 7

It was all over.

Wakka looked numbly around him on the top deck of the Al Bhed ship, checked off what remained of his friends in his mind almost clinically. Yuna weeping on the very front of the ship, Kimahri and Rikku standing frozen further back, closer to him. He wasn't really clear on the details of what had happened since they'd gotten on - aboard? - Sin. There had been the kid talking with his father, them all fighting what Sir Jecht had become, the fight with Yu Yevon inhabiting all of Yuna's Aeons.

Now the kid was gone, Sir Auron too. Yuna had had to Send them, if Wakka understood it right, because they were dreams of the Fayth. Or something.

He shook his head. Didn't matter _why_ , really; what mattered right this minute was Yuna and the others. Somebody had to get everyone moving down to the bridge, where Rikku's father - now that Wakka had apologized for being such a bigoted ass - was waiting probably less than patiently for them. "Yuna?" His voice was too quiet for her to hear him out here on deck, but Lu looked up sharply. She nodded and held out her hand to him.

Wakka took it, and together they made their way to the Summoner. "Come on, Yuna," Wakka said hoarsely, as Lu knelt and put her arms around the younger woman. "Let's go home. Home to Besaid, ya?" _Damn_ , he thought, _what about the Dark Valefor?_ but then he remembered. It would be gone too.

Then Rikku was there, and Kimahri was lifting Yuna as though she were a child, and they all limped back toward the lift.

One look at Rikku's father told him what had happened, and he quietly told the other Al Bhed as they prepared the airship. Lulu and Rikku sat protectively on either side of Yuna on a little bench, and Wakka was about to leave them to it when Yuna whispered something in Lulu's ear. Lu looked surprised but when Rikku bounced a little and nodded and smiled at her, Lulu stood up.

"Walk with me, Wakka?" Her voice sounded rusty and hoarse too, and he gave her a worried look as she took his hand again. She smiled softly at him. "I'm all right," she said as she led him out of the little cabin.

"Yeah, but Yuna..."

"Yuna will be fine, Wakka. She needs time and space and support. But she will be fine. And we..." Lulu took a deep breath. "We need to talk, you and I."

 


	8. Chapter 8

Wakka's hand was warm around hers, and Lulu hoped he wouldn't take it away. But when she started to lead him up to the top deck, it tightened and he resisted.

"What?"

"I... let's not go back up there, ya? Where it all happened and where we lost the k--" He trailed off, but Lulu understood.

"Just the observation deck, then?" He turned to look at her, still holding her hand, then dropped it.

Lulu felt suddenly chilled.

"Yeah, okay," Wakka was saying, but she barely heard him. "Lu? Lulu!"

He took her by the shoulders, turned her to look into her face. "Lu... you okay?"

She shook her head. "Sorry."

But then he smiled at her, all tanned skin and orange hair and white teeth. "Don' worry about it, ya? We all got a lot t'think about." He turned back, taking her hand again, and tugged gently until she walked with him to the observation deck.

 _I suppose we do_ , Lulu thought, _especially because I want.._.

Lulu didn't even allow herself to think what she wanted, not in so many words. She'd had enough of tempting fate, thank you very much, and she was afraid that if she said it, even thought it, he'd say no.

And then what would she do?

Right now, casual conversation was the way to go.

"So," Lulu heard herself saying brightly, "I suppose that now that Yuna has no need for Guardians, you'll be taking the Aurochs to Luca?"

Wakka stopped in his tracks, turned, and looked seriously down at her. She watched as he swallowed hard, once, twice, and then said, hoarsely, "I... I just wanna go home. Home to Besaid, with..." Then, dropping her hand, he turned abruptly away to look out the window at the landscape rushing up to meet them as the ship landed.

"What?" Lulu said gently. "With what? Or..." She took a deep breath, and swallowed hard herself. "Or with whom?"

"With y..." he began, but the word was smothered by the kiss.

When they broke apart, Wakka grinned at Lulu. "Let's go home, ya?"

**Author's Note:**

> I'm replaying FFX, and noticing how important these characters are to the story, even if their gameplay powers are kind of eh...


End file.
